Monday, January 31, 2011

Actor-model Daniel Matsunaga was extremely apologetic when he faced members of the entertainment press on Thursday, January 27, to reveal that the controversial video of him kissing a girl inside an elevator was merely part of a promotional campaign for a hair removal cream product."I apologize if there was any problem pero this is just an endorsement for Veet. This is just a teaser and everything was just fake. There was no kissing scene. It was just for the purpose of letting everybody know about it," Daniel told members of the entertainment media in a press conference held earlier at Annabel's Restaurant in Quezon City.

He added that the intention of the video was not to deceive people but to promote the product "in a bigger way.""So I apologize if somebody gets mad with me. But it's just my professional job and hopefully they understand that," Daniel said.

He added, "I have no intention to hurt anybody."

Although Daniel has been part of several print and television commercials in the past, Veet is his first official product endorsement. The video, officials of Veet explained, is a teaser for a summer contest wherein the winner will have a date with the Daniel.

Unexpected response

Daniel was aware the video will be posted online, but the public's response still caught him by surprise since he didn't exactly know that the video has come out.

"I actually woke up at Monday (with) missed calls from friends of mine. Lahat ng kaibigan ko, texting, 'What was going on? What did you do?' I didn't know that it would come out Monday, so I was like, 'What, what did I do?' because I don't know. And then after I saw it, I was like, 'Oh no, you will know later. I cannot tell right now'," he said.

Between Monday and the official announcement earlier Thursday, Daniel intentionally stayed at home and did not entertain interviews as part of the promotion.

"Because I knew it would be big and I apologize if somebody is mad with me but that is not the intention. The first intention is just to promote Veet," Daniel said.

The Brazilian-Japanese model said he knew that the video amassed intense negative comments online. And while he "avoided" the comments, Daniel maintained he's sorry and stressed that he was only doing a "professional job."

Heart's Reaction

Daniel also said that girlfriend Heart Evangelista also knew about the nature of his campaign with the hair removal product even before it was released online-but he's not sure if the "Dwarfina" star has seen the video. The model said this is because they both try to avoid stress.

"Like if she's having a kissing scene, I move back. I just don't want to see it. So we don't have any complication so we have really good life together," he explained.

He added, "She knows me and we really have a really good relationship. We believe in God, that's the first thing that we have. And she knows that I'm very professional. I'm really loyal to my girlfriend. And I really respect her, always. So a lot of people already knew that this was just a teaser because they get that I couldn't do that and I don't do that. I'm not that kind of person who would kiss another girl."